I'M DOING AN EXPERIMENT

every year someone on this hellsite invents a new way to dehumanize and trivialize people who do not believe in religion or supernatural things and then it gets hundreds of notes its sooo amazing lmao

For the record, this is the correct answer.

The Modern History of FC Barcelona: Masterpost

Barca is a club of extremes. The good moments are like nothing else - playing football of the gods, sweeping up every possible trophy, ticker-tape raining down from the sky and a million people partying on the streets. The bad moments are mindbogglingly moronic and self-destructive. Players will tell you it’s like nowhere else on earth.

Through my posts on the recent history of the club I have attempted to put its present into some sort of context. History tells us why things happen the way they do. But really, these ups and downs also make for some bloody amazing stories, and I wanted to share them.

The current installments are as follows:

Part 1 - The Dream Team and the Bad Break-up (1988-2001)

Part 2 - The Little Genius and His Brazilian Bros (2001-2008)

Part 3 - We Wanted to Eat the World and We Did (2008-2012)

Appendix A: A Presidential Break-up that Defined a Decade

Appendix B: The Betrayal of Eric Abidal 

Leo Messi: the story so far (written on his 21st birthday)

An Eulogy for Tito Vilanova

Winter Has Arrived (a post on the January 2015 crisis)

On reaping what we sow (the February 2020 crisis)

Defining Matches

FC Barcelona 3 Gothenburg 0 (3-3 agg, 5-4 (pens)), European Cup semi-final [1986]

FC Barcelona 1 Sampdoria 0, European Cup final [1992]

AC Milan 4 FC Barcelona 0, European Cup final [1994]

[to be continued]

Here are a few other primer posts for topics I haven’t covered in depth:

a general primer, covering among other things the Baby Dream Team/Class of 87 and the BroT3 (Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol) [also has fic recs at the bottom if you like that sort of thing];

Xavi and Iniesta, footballing soulmates;

the brief but amazing reign of the Messi/Villa partnership;

a discursus on the epic, pure and true love of Victor Valdes and Andres Iniesta;

the brothers Alcantara;

Bojan, Ibra, David Villa and Victor Valdes;

my own Pep Guardiola picspam/primer, covering his playing days, pre-season 2008 and some of 2008/09.

Much of the above list is the work of the wonderful meretricula.  If you know of other relevant primers, please drop me a message with a link.

Read on for footnotes and such.

Keep reading

"A Shirt Made of Fire", Vardges Petrosyan (translated by metamorphesque)

A voice said, Look me in the stars And tell me truly, men of earth, If all the soul-and-body scars Were not too much to pay for birth.

“A Question” - Robert Frost

“I was reading a book in which contemporary society was compared to a multi-tenant building. The tenants are not bound together by common ideals. While they share a desire to protect the building from fire, the inner sufferings of other tenants mean nothing to them. Nor do they care about equality or human rights. Basic principles the state once held in esteem have broken down, so that even if a neighbor is covered in urine or feces, as long as one’s home doesn’t smell, one doesn’t interfere.”

— Yōko Tawada, Scattered All Over the Earth

web weave on running away: the sequel

Pride and Prejudice (2005) + tumblr posts (part 1)

In another universe, you are seven and sitting on the staircase, rereading your favourite fairytale. It’s winter and the soft sunlight streams through the window at just the right angle. You’ve never left your childhood home.